Poll: Cuccinelli Gaining Momentum in Virginia Governor's Race

In the Virginia governor’s race, momentum is moving in the right direction for Republican State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. In the last week, Cuccinelli gained three percentage points on his opponent, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, according to Wednesday’s Quinnipiac poll of likely voters.

The latest results reveal Cuccinelli trails McAuliffe by a 45 percent to 41 percent margin, a marked improvement over the 46 percent to 39 percent shown in a previous poll. Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis also garnered nine percent support, down from ten percent in last week’s poll.

Only recently, Cuccinelli was considered a prohibitive long shot to win the race for Governor, but his steady movement in the polls shows the race tightening. In a hyper partisan contest, polls show Democrat McAuliffe attracting 91 percent of Democratic voters, while Cuccinelli attracts 86 percent of Republican voters.

Political pundits assert the victory may go to the candidate who can persuade independent voters to lean his way and who can capture some of Libertarian Sarvis’ existing supporters.